Catheter-based surgical procedures can be used to repair tissues, such as a defective mitral valve. One such catheter-based surgical procedure, commonly referred to as annuloplasty, reduces the length of a posterior mitral valve leaflet through one or more plications. Specifically, anchors are secured at a plurality of locations distributed around the annulus near the posterior leaflet of a mitral valve. Each anchor has a suture coupled thereto. The sutures are collectively gathered and pulled tight. As the sutures are pulled, the tissue between each pair of adjacent anchors is plicated, thereby shortening the length of the annulus and drawing the posterior leaflet toward the anterior leaflet.
During a surgical procedure, the sutures for each of the anchors extend to an incision site through a catheter. To preserve the plications, the sutures must be secured against movement. Because the procedures are catheter-based, suture locks are typically used because of the small diameter of the catheter.
There is generally a need for an improved lock to secure one or more tensioning members, such as sutures, against relative movement during and after a catheter-based surgical procedure and an improved plication lock delivery system to deliver the improved lock.